leonardo da vinci

In this episode of Explain Me William Powhida and Paddy Johnson talk about the 450 million dollar Leonardo Da Vinci of disputed authenticity and the Boyle Heights activists who follow artist Laura Owen’s from L.A. to New York to protest her non-profit 365 Mission while she visited The Whitney. Activists believe the presence of her gallery will lead to displacement. Additionally, we discuss the exhibitions listed below.

Well this is weird and cute. Fans of the online multi-player role play game “Star Wars: the Old Republic” have been gathering on virtual Alderan to pay tribute to an avatar of Carrie Fischer’s Princess Leia. [CBR]

Polish aristocrat Adam Karol Czartoryski just sold his family’s art collection to the Polish government for €100 million. That might sound like a lot, but the collection spanned 86,000 objects, includes da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine,” Rembrandt’s “Landscape with the Good Samaritan” and works by Renoir. The discounted sale was so undervalued the board of the family’s foundation resigned in protest. [The Telegraph]

Ever get the sense that you’re reading a listicle that should be a tad shorter than it actually is? Enter “10 Technologies That Are Defining Art Right Now”. (OooOooh!) a listicle that includes the obvious suspects—Oculus Rift, drones, and 3D technology—as well as a host of items that aren’t technologies at all. This includes “the wooden spoon” (cooking is a trend!), the kiln (so is ceramics!), and the ballpoint pen (drawing too!). Someone needs a tech writer. [artnet News]

And here’s one of the most specific (but oddly enthralling) year-end top 10 lists: “The Top 10 Staircases of 2016”. These are some pretty cool staircases. [Dezeen]

A report card for the MTA has been issued once more by Strap Hangers. The lines with the best grades were the 7, 1, and the L, and those with the worst were the 5 and the A. No surprises with the 5 and the A, but as someone who is regularly made late by rush hour traffic on the 7 line in the morning, I would suggest this report card indicates there is a lot of work to be done. And in fact, the bad news listed in the report supports this. Car breakdown increased and subway regularity decreased this year. [Strap Hangers]

The Gowanus Canal is a superfund site, but that’s not stopping some city council members from declaring that with a little rezoning the neighborhood could become New York’s Venice. People have lost their minds. [Curbed]

Researchers have “discovered” that auctions are designed push bidders emotional buttons, that time pressure makes bidders even more emotional, and that social pressure is key to securing higher bids. Who didn’t know this already? [New York Magazine]

An obscure painting from ukiyo-e master Hokusai turned up at auction in Denmark last month, where it was purchased by a Tokyo dealer. It’s an almost-unknown work with an interesting provenance and unusual characteristics for its era. [The Asahi Shimbun]

A Chinese shopping mall has erected a statue of Donald Trump as a rooster, because next lunar year is the Year of the Rooster. This thing is creepy and looks like a fried chicken company mascot. [The New York Times]

Tomilson Hill is opening his own private museum in Chelsea on West 24th street. The Hill Art Foundation will be a two-story, 6,400-square-foot space that currently does not plan to charge admission. The collection is estimated to be worth $800 million and consists of stalwart contemporary artists like Christopher Wool and Richard Prince as well as Renaissance and Baroque bronzes. [New York Times]

Eric Wesley was looking for something in between New York and Los Angeles that would reinvigorate his art practice and allow him to use alternative space. What he found was an abandoned Taco Bell in Cahokia, Illinois. The renovated fast food joint operates as a gallery, installation and workspace.[Chicago Tribune]

Manhattan art consultant, Lacey Doyle, was arrested on Thursday. She is accused of using overseas bank accounts to hide millions of dollars she received from a family inheritance. Doyle is out on bail and faces up to six years in prison. [New York Daily News]

Stephen Hawking explains his belief that Brexit signals a need for society to change its relationship with money. He believes that we need to refocus on “cathedral projects,” meaning the type of initiatives that only serve the purpose of cultural good rather than short term profit. [The Guardian]

The original film from 1954 has long been understood to be an allegory for the birth of atomic weaponry and it looks like Godzilla is returning to its political roots. Kotaku’s man in Japan explains how the film is actually about the rise of right-wing militarization that is currently sweeping the country. Unfortunately, it seems, the film spends the bulk of its time with politicians arguing and doesn’t have enough giant lizard. [Kotaku]

The Detroit Institute of Arts is planning to better reflect the demographics of its home city by expanding its collection of African-American art. [Hyperallergic]

Following the release of a 2016 sales report that was relatively grim, three top executives have left Christie’s auction house. It’s unclear if the two events are related. [artnet News]

Leonardo da Vinci expert Mario Taddei explains why Dan Brown’s conspiracy theories about The Last Supper are probably bullshit and positions the painting as following proper traditions for the scene. Taddei says the most notable break from tradition is simply da Vinci’s choice to paint the apostles without a halo, indicating that they were just common men. [Smithsonian Magazine]

Found Art: Russian man crashes truck full of yellow paint and reconsiders his life. [YouTube]

A list of theories about the Mona Lisa: it’s actually the artist, Leonardo Da Vinci, in drag; she suffers from high cholesterol, there are actually two Mona Lisa’s in existence, the artist was an alien. [Hyperallergic]

20 emerging female artists to watch. Nice to see such a diverse list, but it’s uneven (there’s at least one artist on that list who is better known as a party girl) and how long do some of these artists have to stay on the emerging list? Molly Crabapple has won every award in the book, collaborated with Spike Jonze, and has several agents. [Artnet]

Oh god. Toy photographer Brian McCarty had his work ripped off and doctored by ISIS. [Washington Post]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is Time’s person of the year. Really? Good on her for accepting so many refugees, but the country’s economy desperately needs more workers, so there’s an immediate benefit of doing so. Meanwhile, how quickly we forget all that austerity bullshit with the Greeks. [Time]

I’m a little surprised we didn’t see Basel carpeted with Jim Shaw paintings this season, given his retrospective at the New Museum. I assume there’s an explanation for this, but I haven’t heard it. Jerry Saltz glowingly reviews his show and notes that the museum has a habit of letting artists go wild in their space. I couldn’t agree and it’s great to see. [Vulture]

As LACMA plans to haul Michael Heizer’s “Levitating Mass” to the museum from its current residence in a Riverside County quarry, the quarry’s owners are planning a party for the night of the big move, selling T-shirts with the message: “Big ”¦ Rock ”¦ Move!” [LAT]

As resale prices on eBay for tickets to “Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” have risen well above $200, London’s National Gallery offered this stern warning to scalpers: “Tickets that have been resold will be cancelled without refund and admission will be refused to the bearer. The National Gallery is currently contacting any companies or websites which are offering this facility in order to advise them of this and request they stop immediately.” [Museum site]

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has announced six finalists for its 2012 Hugo Boss Prize: Trisha Donnelly, Rashid Johnson, Monika Sosnowska, Danh Vo, Tris Vonna-Michell, and Qiu Zhijie. The winner will receive a $100,000 prize and an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. [NYT]

Banksy is running for the Turnip Prize, a parody of the Turner Prize awarded by patrons of a pub in rural Somerset for art showing the least talent and minimal effort. [Telegraph]

Danny Guthrie, an artist and associate professor at Michigan State, has been taking mostly nude photographs of himself and his students for quite a while. Now, a column written by a student calling the photographs “sexist” and “exploitive” has renewed debates about whether MSU’s art and art history departments should allow Guthrie to continue. [Detroit News]